Why give up before we try Feel the lows before the highs Clip our wings before we fly away I can't say I came prepared I'm suspended in the air Won't you come be in the sky with me
Alicia KeysRead
I'm a very positive person, but this whole concept of having to always be nice, always smiling, always happy, that's not real. It was like I was wearing a mask. I was becoming this perfectly chiselled sculpture, and that was bad. That took a long time to understand.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True positivity involves authenticity, not just a facade of happiness.
In this quote, Alicia Keys expresses the struggle between societal expectations of perpetual positivity and the reality of human emotions. She emphasizes that wearing a 'mask' to appear happy can lead to a loss of one's true self, and that genuine happiness comes from embracing one's true feelings rather than conforming to unrealistic standards.
Themes
PositivityAuthenticityHappinessEmotionSelf-Discovery
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about mental health, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of being true to oneself.
More from Alicia Keys
All quotes →I always want to stay focused on who I am, even as I'm discovering who I am.
Alicia KeysRead
Failure isn't an option. I've erased the word fear from my vocabulary and I think when you erase fear you can't fail.
Alicia KeysRead
Everything you want to be, you already are. You're simply on the path to discovering it.
Alicia KeysRead
I’ve found that the best life has to offer is right in front of me, with my husband and child
Alicia KeysRead
How terrible would it have been if I had come out with some watered-down version of who I am? People fell in love with the real me, and I still feel blessed that that was how the journey began.
Alicia KeysRead
Similar quotes
Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any methods
Margaret Chase SmithRead
The question the doubter does not ask is whether faith was really useless or simply not used. What would you think of a boy who gave up learning to ride a bicycle, complaining that he hurt himself because his bicycle stopped moving so he had no choice but to fall off? If he wanted to sit comfortably while remaining stationary, he should not have chosen a bicycle but a chair. Similarly faith must be put to use, or it will become useless.
Os GuinnessRead
As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
She returned his gaze, struck by the sense of her own transformation, and overwhelmed by the beauty which a lifetime havit had taught her to ignore.
Ian McewanRead
Preserve substance; modify form; know the difference.
Dee HockRead
None of us is perfect. There was only one perfect man who ever walked the earth, and He was the Son of God. We all have weaknesses and I guess we all make mistakes and will make mistakes in the future, but look for the virtues, the strengths, the goodness in those with whom you labor, and draw those characteristics into your own lives and make them a part of yourselves, and you will be the richer for it all the days that you live.
Gordon B. HinckleyRead